Friday, February 15, 2008

Sometimes travel IS required

Have you ever traveled to a foreign country and ate or drank something that you just loved? Did you long for it when you got home ? I have. I am specifically speaking about my recent trip to India. The food just blew me away. Between the hand-made breads, the lentils, and all the delicious foods made with rice flour, I came home and missed the food. It's been hard for me to find restaurants in and around Boston that have many of my favorite food items from India. I've found some restaurants to get my masala dosa fix, but I miss panipuri and haven't been able to find it around here.

My point here is that it's possible to find a lot of the foods from your trip once you get back home, but sometimes they aren't the same. Case in point, Kingfisher beer. A brew native to India and available here in the United States, sort of. I noticed while I was in Pondicherry, India enjoying the Kingfisher pictured below, that the label on the bottle said it was for sale in the state of Pondicherry only. When I had my next Kingfisher, I was in Chennai, a city in the state of Tamil Nadu. The label on that bottle stated that it was only to be sold in Tamil Nadu. I was told that these sales restrictions have something to do with taxes and restrictions on inter-state distribution.

So now I'm home and I go out for Indian food. The Kingfisher beer that is available for sale here in the USA is brewed and bottled in Saratoga Springs, New York, under license from Kingfisher. The beer tastes noticeably different here, and while still a good beer, it is not as good as those I had while in India.

2 comments:

I'm pretty sure Kingfisher saved my life. I used to teach in Southern India at a Hindu high school. I did not date or drink for a whole entire year. On my way home I took a side trip to Goa where I sucked down as many Kingfisher's as possible. Beer never tasted so good!